Alliance parties gain absolute majority: poll

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Sweden's four-party centre-right Alliance would achieve an outright majority if a general election were held today, according to pollster Sifo's third August survey.

The Alliance leads the Red-Green opposition by 7.6 percentage points, having made a 2.9 point gain since last week's poll, Stockholm daily Svenska Dagbladet reports.

The governing coalition scored 51.5 percent in the new poll, compared to 43.9 percent for the three-party opposition bloc.

The Alliance enjoyed a significant rise in support from women in the latest poll, with half of all female respondents now saying they would vote for one of the parties in the current government.

"The fact that the scales are balanced for women is the main reason for the Alliance's increased lead," Sifo's Toivo Sjörén told Svenska Dagbladet.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's Moderate Party witnessed the largest upswing in support, with a 1.6 percentage point rise seeing his party overtake Mona Sahlin's Social Democrats (-1.2) as the country's largest party.

The Left Party represented the only bright spot for the Red-Greens, with Lars Ohly's party climbing 1.1 points to 5.9 percent.

The nationalist Sweden Democrats dropped back below the 4 percent parliamentary threshold, shedding 0.8 points for a total of 3.7 percent.

Sifo's results are based on interviews with 1,445 voters carried out from August 16th to 18th. Swedes go to the polls for a general election on September 19th.

Sifo poll results, August 22nd (changes since last week's poll in parentheses)